Dismissal of journalists for supporting students has begun

Vojislava Crnjanski Spasojević, a journalist for "Večernje novosti", was fired after posting a photo of the student protest in front of the Faculty of Law on her private Instagram profile. The resignation was signed by the director of "Večernje novosti" Olivera Anđelković.

Vojislava Crnjanski Spasojević has been awarded several times and is a journalist with the most published texts, so the reason for her dismissal is that she achieves the lowest performance - unbelievable.

It will be a demonstrative example for all others in the team, especially those who reacted to the publication of the personal data of two students on the portal "Novosti" and the public opinion that because of this, the "Meša Selimović" award should be withdrawn from this newspaper.

At the same time, this is also proof that journalists are being spied on, that is, as Vojislava Crnjanski Spasojević wrote in a letter to the public, that taxpayers' money is not allocated for the construction of stable canopies, bridges, schools, for the treatment of those suffering from serious and rare diseases, for education , science and culture, but for "paying individuals or systems that spy on the social networks of journalists and other citizens of Serbia".

We publish her open letter in full:

"Respected,

My name is Vojislava Crnjanski Spasojević and I have been a journalist for three decades, of which the last 14 years were in "Večernji novosti". More precisely, I was a journalist in that daily newspaper until January 20. I received the decision about my dismissal on January 13, just a day after I posted a photo with my friend at a protest in front of the Constitutional Court in my "story" on my private "Instagram" profile. And only ten days after I published on the same network my objection to the disclosure of the personal data of two students, Lazar and Luka Stojaković, on the "Novosti" portal.

During my career, I wrote many articles about the dangers of misuse of personal data, as well as the consequences of that criminal act, and I was truly shocked, affected and angry when I saw facsimiles of their passports on the portal of the house where I work. Due to confusion among the public, I must also point out that these facsimiles did not appear in the printed edition of "Novosti".

Of course, in the decision on the termination of my employment, all this was not mentioned as a reason for dismissal.

It is stated that "due to technological, economic and organizational changes at the employer, the need to perform the work" that I was doing, i.e. that I am redundant. Technological redundancy in a newsroom that has been understaffed for a long time and in a column with only three journalists, in which weekend duty during annual vacations is barely provided!? It is also stated that before making the decision, the employer "conducted a detailed analysis of the work performance of the employees in the company section" and determined that I was allegedly achieving the least work results.

Since I have evidence to the contrary, i.e. that my work performance at the time of dismissal was the highest when it comes to the number of articles, as well as the fact that I received the Journalist of the Year award twice and several Collegium awards for individual articles (the last one in December), I have reasonable doubts that the reason for the dismissal was not my performance. This doubt is further supported by the fact that the management of the company, that is, the director who signed the decision, did not consult my editors or the Editorial Board - neither about my work, nor about the needs of the editorial office. Before handing over the solution, no one talked to me or warned me that there was any problem related to my work. The rulebook on the new systematization of workplaces, dated January 10, refers only to my workplace, i.e. the section "society", without any other changes foreseen in the editorial.

I am speaking to you publicly because I think that this practice of firing "undesirable" journalists will continue in other media, as well as because I do not want to accept the fact that people who are not journalist professionals evaluate the work of me and my colleagues and degrade our profession. Because such acts punish common sense, a different view of reality than the one that is "desirable", punish the need to comply with the laws and principles of the democratic society we support.

At the same time, the message is sent that the journalist must be obedient, otherwise he will be sanctioned in one way or another, even when he strictly advocates respect for the law and professional norms.

I am particularly afraid, if my suspicions are correct, of the possibility that taxpayers' money is not allocated for the construction of stable canopies, bridges, schools, for the treatment of those suffering from serious and rare diseases, for education, science and culture, but for the payment of individuals or systems that they spy on the social networks of journalists and other citizens of Serbia.

I think citizens need to know that.

Vojislava Crnjanski Spasojević, journalist"